Bishop O'Connell leads estimated 2,000 Catholics to March for Life in Washington

Jason Rivera /The MonitorBishop David M. O'Connell, shown left of banner, joins some of the representatives of the Diocese of Trenton just prior to the 39th annual March for Life in Washington Jan. 23. The Trenton contingent, some 2,000 strong, joins an estimated 100,000 plus anti-abortion advocates from around the nation who marched up Constitution Avenue to the U.S. Supreme Court building

Yesterday, Bishop David M. O'Connell of the Diocese of Trenton led a contingent of about 2,000 Catholics to Washington, D.C., for an annual protest march against abortion rights.

The group, assembled from more than two dozen parish and Catholic schools across Burlington, Mercer, Monmouth and Ocean counties, joined about 100,000 anti-abortion advocates who marched up Constitution Avenue to the Supreme Court building yesterday in protest of the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.

"Our pro-life position must embrace the womb and the tomb and every moment in between, without forgetting or ignoring support for the whole of life until its natural end as determined by our Creator," O'Connell said in a message on the diocese's website.

He celebrated morning Mass yesterday in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, along with Cardinal-designate Timothy M. Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York. The march yesterday was one of the final events in the three-day protest, which began on Saturday.

Meanwhile, in the Princeton area, abortion rights supporters had to cancel a honk-and-wave gathering in support of abortion rights that was scheduled for Saturday. Jennifer Miller, Planned Parenthood vice president of community services, said the weather made it impossible.

"We are all familiar with the concept of the 'back alley abortion,' and with good reason," she said. "In the years before the Roe decision, a woman's health and safety were greatly at risk when she faced an unintended pregnancy. Clandestine abortion was common, and death was often the result for a woman seeking illegal abortion care. Roe did not create abortion; rather it made the procedure safe and accessible."